St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-04-11
THE ABANDONED sEpULcHRE.
Gods Pledge 10 Man of the Life
Everlasting.

Hennepin Avenue NJ. E. church was
crowded yesterday morning. The decora-
tons were tasteful and suggestive of the
Christians faith in a resurrection of the
body. The large chorus choir sang SPLEEN
ddly under the leadership of Prof. f. W.
Merriam. Six persons were received into
the church and five baptized. The follow
ing is brief synopsis of the sermon
preached by the pastor, Rev. j. l.. Pitner,
from L. Cor. KY, 20:
This is the day when the hopes and faith
of Christians are brightest and strongest.
The church is engaged to-day in contem-
plating an abandoned sepulchre. That one
empty tomb stands as Gods pledge that
some day all those who sleep in their graves
shall come forth. To Christians the
doctrine ofia resurrection is one of the
greatest boons. There is in it that which
helps nightly in relieving the grief caused
by the cruelty of death. The birth of
Christ was the occasion of angelic and HUI
man rejoicing. The songs then sung are
echOing through sthe earth yet but His
death and resurrection are the greatest facts,
for if He. is not risen our faith is vain, and
we are yet in our sins-the hopeless victims
of great delusion. If Christ is still in the
grave we are depending upon an unfinished
atonement. But we are not de-
ceived; we are not Knocked; now
is Christ risen from the dead.
and become the first fruits of them that
slept" 1t is interesting to notice the flimsy
theories advanced to account for the
tSaviol's disappearance from the tomb. The
old one manufactured On the occasion, that
the force of that browning miracle might
be broken is the weakest of all. A guard
OF Roman soldiers never before or since be-
haved so badly as to sleep Soundly when on
duty. The theory does violence to human
nature. No one can seriously suppose that
less than a dozen neil, unaccustomed to
bearing arms, would think of attacking a
guard of trained SoldierS-sure destruction
would have come upon them. The old
time dilemma still holds the theory of an
Gent priest and modern sceptic impaled
IF the guard was awake the disciples
could not have stolen the body; and if the
soldies were asleep how did they know who
stole the body?" The condition in which
the tomb was found proves that great de-
liberation characterized the resurrection.
Thelinen clothes were lying in the sepul-
cher and the napkin that had covered the
pierced brow was folded and lying by it.
self. Grave robbers are not so deliberate
as these little things indicate. All those
events. contingent upon the death and
resurrection of the Savior, occurred in the
manner and form predicted by
him. The destruction of Jerusalem,
the razing of .he temple. the
dispersion, all according to His prophecies
of what should come after His resurrection,
etc. There are many objections urged
against this doctrine. Prominent among
them the one which insists that such doc
trine outrages human reason. Human lea
&C. L., 1,I I,,& oh =
most fallible faculty we possess. The lab
oratOry, the telescope, the microscope, the
experiences of every day life all warrant us
i'll saying that reason should be more modest
and not aspire to settle things beyond the
range of our senses, etc. What the quarry
is to the sculptor the perceptions are to rea-
son: in each case no work is done until ma
terial is furnished. Suppose one from land
destitute of plants should be shown some
little seeds of a fragrant flower. When
told that from those tiny things plants
would come; that bloom, beauty and fra
GRANGE were enwrapped in those little seeds.
he would say: No! no! the thing is I'M
reasonable" To him it seems impossible.
To US it is not so. What each has observed
constitutes the starting points in the pro-
,'esses of reasoning. Those things which
t.anSpire above the realm of reason are not
to be judged by it Ror settled according to
its rules, etc. While it is true that change
and decay are at work within u.s. yet that
One who touches the carbon and turns ii
into gem. who compels unsightly lime to
take on value and iridescence in the mol
lusk's shell, has promised to change oul
vile bodies into things of symmetry and
glory. Through all ages the light from the
9 riven sepu!cher has fallen upon the pillows
of dying saints; promises of Jesus have EN-.
boldened them in the very presence Of
death, and on His finished atonement they
depended and were not put to confusion